Control

The pairing of Intel’s Core i5-10400F with NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5080 produces a fascinating split in Control: the GPU is clearly the dominant force at higher resolutions, but the six-core Comet Lake processor begins to show its age when the resolution drops. The RTX 5080, with its Blackwell architecture and 16 GB of GDDR7 memory, is an overwhelming performer for a 2019 title, yet the data reveals that the i5-10400F is the limiting factor in several key configurations. This analysis breaks down exactly what the measured frames mean for this specific combination.

Resolution Scaling

The frame rate scaling from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 tells a clear story about where the bottleneck lies. At 1080p with Low settings, the combo achieves 168.6 FPS. Moving to 1440p Low drops that to 151.5 FPS, and at 4K Low it falls further to 132.3 FPS. The total drop from 1080p to 4K at Low settings is 36.3 FPS, which is a modest 21.5% decrease relative to the 1080p figure. This relatively small penalty suggests that at Low settings, the CPU is holding the system back from fully exploiting the RTX 5080’s potential, even at 4K.

The picture changes dramatically at Ultra settings. The 1080p Ultra score is 135.8 FPS, which drops to 109.9 FPS at 1440p and then to 71.9 FPS at 4K. That represents a 63.9 FPS difference between 1080p and 4K, or a 47.1% reduction. The scaling from 1440p to 4K alone is a 38 FPS drop, indicating that the GPU is now the primary constraint. The RTX 5080’s raw compute power, measured at 56.28 TFLOPS FP32, is being fully taxed at 4K Ultra, while the i5-10400F has enough headroom to keep feeding it frames.

The High settings row provides the most balanced view. At 1080p High, the system hits 143.2 FPS, which is only 4.7% higher than the 1440p High score of 128.1 FPS. The jump from 1440p to 4K High is more severe, with a 46.1 FPS drop to 82 FPS. This non-linear scaling is classic evidence of a CPU limit at lower resolutions: the i5-10400F, with its 2.90 GHz base clock and 4.30 GHz boost, simply cannot push more frames at 1080p, regardless of the GPU’s capability. The RTX 5080’s 16 GB VRAM and 960.0 GB/s bandwidth are never close to being saturated at 1080p, making the processor the obvious gatekeeper.

FAQ

*Q: Is the Intel Core i5-10400F a bottleneck for the RTX 5080 in Control?*

A: The data suggests a partial bottleneck at 1080p. At Low settings, the difference between 1080p (168.6 FPS) and 1440p (151.5 FPS) is only 17.1 FPS, implying the CPU cannot scale much beyond the 1080p result. At 4K, the GPU becomes the limiting factor, as shown by the larger performance gap across settings.

Q: What is the best resolution to play at with this combo?

A: Based on the measured averages, 1440p offers the best balance of quality and speed. At High settings, the system delivers 128.1 FPS, which is 46.1 FPS higher than 4K High (82 FPS) and only 15.1 FPS lower than 1080p High (143.2 FPS). The CPU bottleneck at 1080p makes 1440p the sweet spot.

*Q: How does the RTX 5080’s VRAM affect Control performance?*

A: The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory is far beyond what Control requires. The game’s highest measured average is 168.6 FPS at 1080p Low, and at 4K Ultra the system still produces 71.9 FPS. No configuration in the data shows any indication of VRAM capacity limiting performance, as the GPU’s memory bandwidth of 960.0 GB/s is ample for this title.

Q: Does the i5-10400F’s six-core/12-thread configuration help in this game?

A: The processor’s multi-threaded capabilities, reflected in a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 10297, are sufficient for Control. The game does not appear to be heavily multi-threaded based on the scaling data. The single-core performance, with a Geekbench single-core score of 1454, is more relevant, and it shows limitations at 1080p where the GPU is underutilized.

Q: What is the performance difference between Low and Ultra settings at 4K?

A: At 3840x2160, Low settings produce 132.3 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 71.9 FPS. This is a 60.4 FPS difference, or a 45.6% reduction in performance. The Medium setting (92.9 FPS) and High setting (82 FPS) sit between these extremes, showing a clear trade-off between visual fidelity and frame rate.

*Q: How does this combo rank against other configurations in Control?*

A: The combo ranks 178th out of 1636 tested combinations, placing it in the top 11% of all systems. This high percentile is expected given the RTX 5080’s enormous compute power, but the rank also reflects the i5-10400F’s limitations, as a newer CPU would likely push the combo higher.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 is the star of this pairing, and its specifications explain why Control runs so smoothly at high resolutions. The GPU’s core clock starts at 2295 MHz and boosts to 2617 MHz, providing substantial compute throughput. With 10752 shading units and 336 texture mapping units, the card is designed for massive parallel workloads, which is exactly what Control’s physics-heavy environments demand. The pixel rate of 293.1 GPixel/s and texture rate of 879.3 GTexel/s ensure that even the most chaotic particle effects are rendered without issue.

The 16 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 256-bit bus delivers 960.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For a game released in 2019, this is immense overkill. The measured data confirms this: at 4K Ultra, the system still manages 71.9 FPS, a result that would have been unthinkable for the hardware of Control’s era. The GPU’s benchmark scores reinforce its dominance, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 8637 and a Passmark G3D score of 36565, placing it in the 89th percentile of all GPUs.

The GPU’s role becomes more critical as resolution increases. At 1440p Ultra, the system produces 109.9 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 71.9 FPS. That 38 FPS gap is almost entirely attributable to the GPU’s workload, as the CPU has more headroom at higher resolutions. The RTX 5080’s 56.28 TFLOPS FP32 compute is being fully utilized at 4K, while at 1080p it is often waiting for the i5-10400F to deliver draw calls. The GPU’s nearest rival, the Intel Arc A570M, has an average score that is 1.6% lower, but that comparison is irrelevant in gaming scenarios where the RTX 5080’s driver optimization and feature set shine.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data provides a clear roadmap for optimal settings. For players targeting 60 FPS as a minimum, the 4K Ultra preset is just barely viable at 71.9 FPS average, but the margin is thin. The 4K High preset offers a safer 82 FPS, while 4K Medium provides 92.9 FPS and 4K Low jumps to 132.3 FPS. Given that Control is a visually stunning game with heavy use of reflections and physics, the High preset at 4K appears to be the best compromise: it delivers a 10.1 FPS improvement over Ultra while maintaining most of the visual fidelity.

At 1440p, the recommendation shifts to Ultra. The Ultra preset produces 109.9 FPS, which is well above the 60 FPS threshold and only 18.2 FPS lower than High (128.1 FPS). The jump from Medium (133.6 FPS) to Ultra (109.9 FPS) is a 23.7 FPS cost, but the visual gains are worth it for a game like Control where atmosphere is everything. The 1080p results show a different story: the i5-10400F limits the benefits of higher settings. The difference between Low (168.6 FPS) and Ultra (135.8 FPS) is 32.8 FPS, but the system is already so fast at 1080p that the CPU constraint makes any preset above Medium a marginal gain. For 1080p, Medium (146.8 FPS) or High (143.2 FPS) is the sensible choice, as Ultra’s 135.8 FPS offers little benefit for the performance cost.

The key insight is that this combo is best suited for 1440p or 4K gaming. At 1080p, the CPU becomes the limiting factor, and the RTX 5080’s power is wasted. The data shows that the largest performance gaps occur between 1440p and 4K, particularly at Ultra settings, which is where the GPU’s capabilities are most fully expressed.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The complete measured FPS table for the Intel Core i5-10400F and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 in Control is as follows:

• 1920x1080 Low: 168.6 FPS average
• 1920x1080 Medium: 146.8 FPS average
• 1920x1080 High: 143.2 FPS average
• 1920x1080 Ultra: 135.8 FPS average

At 1080p, the spread from Low to Ultra is 32.8 FPS, with Low being 22.8 FPS faster than Medium. The gap between Medium and High is a mere 3.6 FPS, suggesting that the CPU is the primary limiter once Medium settings are engaged. The i5-10400F’s 3DMark single-thread score of 688 and Cinebench R23 single-core score of 1453 indicate its per-core performance is adequate but not exceptional, which explains the plateau.

• 2560x1440 Low: 151.5 FPS average
• 2560x1440 Medium: 133.6 FPS average
• 2560x1440 High: 128.1 FPS average
• 2560x1440 Ultra: 109.9 FPS average

At 1440p, the scaling becomes more GPU-bound. The difference between Low and Medium is 17.9 FPS, and between Medium and High is 5.5 FPS. The Ultra preset takes a significant hit, dropping 18.2 FPS below High. This pattern shows the GPU beginning to feel the load, but the RTX 5080 still has ample headroom, as the 151.5 FPS Low result demonstrates.

• 3840x2160 Low: 132.3 FPS average
• 3840x2160 Medium: 92.9 FPS average
• 3840x2160 High: 82 FPS average
• 3840x2160 Ultra: 71.9 FPS average

At 4K, the GPU is fully engaged. The drop from Low to Medium is a massive 39.4 FPS, and from Medium to High is 10.9 FPS. The High to Ultra gap is 10.1 FPS. The total range of 60.4 FPS between Low and Ultra is the largest of any resolution, confirming that the RTX 5080 is the bottleneck at 4K. The combo’s rank of 178th out of 1636 combinations reflects its overall strength, but the data shows that the CPU holds back performance at lower resolutions, while the GPU takes over at 4K.